All the outside work, camping, and fishing makes it tough sometimes to sit in a cubical...

If you recall the recent software app to watch Bonneville Salmon go by the fish ladder's window... we've modified the application to get images from any of the thousands of webcams out on the internet.

Now, we can watch traffic along a scenic stretch of Wyoming highway...

Or I can watch baby owls on one of Washington's 'critter cams'.

It is a great way to put the 2nd monitor to use when it isn't needed, and it gives a fun distraction.

Monday, May 17, 2010

This weekend we took our annual campout for May - this time on the river. Years past we always circumnavigated Sauvies Island - this year we launched at the top of Multnomah Channel at Hayden's Landing.

A very nice (but small) launch. No traffic.

We had hoped to camp at the Hayden Landing campground, but found it full of yachters. Rude ones at that - we got flipped off twice (same guy) as we looked for a spot to park.

Oh well, its a big river and plenty of other options.

We did some trolling for Spring Salmon for an hour or so with a few other boats at the top of Multnomah Channel... but no love for anyone.

As the sun went down, we slowly trolled downhill on the channel.

We decided to camp for the night with some other friends on Coon Island, about mid-way in the channel in the Scappoose area.

It was a looonnng troll down through Rocky Point Marina - there are so many houses on the channel it is slow going.

The slower pace was nice - the weather was warm, the KFC chicken was good, and the trip was great with the boys.

They did all the driving too, so Dad had it easy tending to the fishing poles.

We finally made it to Coon Island, and there was plenty of moorage on the western side of the island.

Camp was setup and a fire going. We had the island to ourselves.

We were all stuffed from dinner, but still managed to eat all the cookies and oversized marshmellows we could find.

There was no noise from the highway (Hwy 30), nor was there train, boat, or airplane noise. It was quite peaceful and enjoyable.

No bugs either. Later in the summer they will be bad, but for now, it was warm, quiet, and great.

Most of us slept in camp, but the two older boys opted for sleeping on the nice padded benches in the boat.

We didn't even bother to put up the top for the night - Saturday was hot so we left it all bundled up.

Everyone slept well, even with some older boys who lit off firecrackers...

Coon Island is really a great place to camp. There are nice trails and many camping spots. Even a covered Pavillion. It seems that most yachters stay on the docks, except to walk their little dogs.

We spotted a couple deer in the early morning.

After breakfast, one of the boys had found a goose egg floating down the channel the day before, so we cracked it open.

The chick was only a few days from hatching. It was very cool to see it.

We did some fishing off and on during the morning, and only saw 1 fish caught. Fortunately it was our friends we'd camped with who caught it!

Alot of boats and boat traffic - especially early in the AM on Saturday.

We spent the day fishing, hiking, laughing at the dog chasing sticks, and one of the boys even went swimming.

We buried another treasure, too.

He said the water was cold, but jumped in several times.

The dog didn't seem to mind, either.

Finally, we started the long downhill troll to St Helens. We had 2 good takedowns - and one fish on briefly before it came off.

Alot of boats down in the Santosh area, but didn't seem like alot of action.

It was a great trip and a great start of the summertime season. Coon Island was a big hit, and definitely worth visiting again.

We were all disappointed that sturgeon fishing is closed, because that is always our favorite fishing this time of year. Oh well, we'll get to it soon I'm sure.

We've had our Cub Cadet LT1045 riding mower for 3 years now and its run well.

This year we've had to breakdowns... first it wouldn't start.

Now, the transmission drive belt shredded. This one will take alittle more to fix.

First, we dropped the mowing deck out from under the mower.

This was really easy to do, and it was great having the extra hands from the kids to help.

Yeah, kid's hands and mowing decks don't go together well, but in this case it was OK!

Lots of yuck under the mowing deck.

It is a good time to clean it out and sharpen up the blades while we have it off, too.

Fortunately, there is alot of information and diagrams for the mowers online.

We ordered a new belt for $35, and got it after two days.

Here is the underside of the mower - with the transmission's pulleys visible.

The only big issue with putting on a new belt, is taking both pulleys off of the engine's drive shaft. Slipping the belt up and in on the pulleys was tricky, but not difficult.

Ok, here is a cool trick we'd only heard of but never tried. Because the bolt holding the pulleys was on the motor's drive shaft, loosening or tightening it was impossible - the motors shaft simply spun as we tugged on the socket.

So, we took out the spark plug, and stuffed the chamber full of nylon rope. Now, as we pulled on the socket, the rope bound up the piston, freezing the drive shaft, so we could EASILY loosen and tighten the bolt!

Seeing this trick work so well made the whole repair worth it! It is really cool seeing something like this work so well. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had a chance to get that bolt off.

Here you can see the PTO's clutch dropped off, and the upper pully down to slide on the new belt.

Putting it on and all back together took less than 5 minutes.

We did a cleanup on the blades, and a quick sharpening, too.

The repair took about 40 minutes. The blade work another 15.

Not a bad repair, after all.

The mower is back, ready for action. Much to the chagrin of the mowers...

The repair shop said they were backlogged by 4 weeks. Glad we could get it up and running so quickly (and cheaply!).